MLA 8th Edition Output Style

We have posted a BETA version of an output style for the MLA 8th Edition Handbook. It is available for download here:

http://endnote.com/downloads/style/mla-8th-edition-modern-language-association-beta

The MLA is a complex style, and now that it is using a “container” concept, there is a good deal of leeway in how sources are cited. There can be multiple, valid ways to cite the same source. 

We welcome your feedback. Please cite the exact source you are using when writing your comment. At the end of July we will review all comments and incorporate those EndNote can accommodate which have documentation in the MLA 8th edition handbook or MLA Style Center and its blogs.

Wow, this new format makes perfect sense, but how many high school English teachers is it going to annoy!  The “up the the writer” concept is not in their vocabulary! 

Here are some current issues I have with where my initial info was listed:

Year: reprint vs. original.  The Beta defaults to original (before and with other styles like APA) I would place the reprint or new edition in the “year” category.

Also, some issues with “Edited book” – the title of the book is now in quotes and endnote defaults to

So, if I change the year of all my entries, then want to switch to APA, I’m in a bit of a pickle. It may be best to match the new MLA field up with the APA 6th.

Thank you for your comments!

I’m not sure I understand your comments about reprint year. MLA 8th edition requires that you cite both the original source and the actual source you consulted. (Actually not a new requirement, but now emphasized by the implementation of the Container concept.) EndNote has separate fields for reprint information, and the point of having EndNote is that you don’t modify the content of your library to suit the output style; if necessary, you modify to output style to accommodate your content.

The Edited Book reference tyoe is not included in the MLA 8th template. Do you mean Book Section? There a multiple examples of book sections in the MLA 8th manual, but in general they all have the chapter or section title enclosed in quotes while the title of the book is in italics.

Please remember there can be multiple ways that sources can be cited. We have interpreted the style guide to the best of our ability. No formatter is perfect and EndNote does have certain limitations which may require that certain data be entered in certain fields. If you would like to send specific examples that explain your comments and/or provide page(s) in the manual which show how you are expecting formatting to look we would be happy to see if the style can be modified to suit your needs.

I don’t know how to communicate this and I can’t upload screen caps:  The end note field as they are currenlty, require me to change quite a bit.  The difficult is with edited collections where the “series title” field is now used instead of the  “book title”.  This becomes a bit of a mess if I wish to switch between APA and MLA-8.

The issue with origional publicaiton is nickpicky: 

End Note had an “original publicaiton” field – so I placed the orignal year there and used the “year” field for the newest version.  Now, with MLA 8th, the focus is on the “Reprint edition” field rather htan the “Original pub” field. 

To try and clarify - the issue is with the endnote fields this is an entry for an edited collection:

MLA 7:

Jarratt, Susan C., and Lynn Worsham, eds. Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words. New York: Modern Language Association, 1998. Print.

APA 6

Jarratt, Susan C., and Lynn Worsham, eds. Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words. New York: Modern Language Association, 1998. Print.

MLA 8 Beta:

Jarratt, Susan C. and Lynn Worsham. “Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words.” Modern Language Association, 1998.

The fields are off here:  “Title” rather than “Series Title” should be in italics.  Also, there is no idenficiaiton of editor(s)  in the MLA 8 beta. 

2Treelawn wrote:  [truncated message]

To try and clarify - the issue is with the endnote fields this is an entry for an edited collection:

MLA 8 Beta:

Jarratt, Susan C. and Lynn Worsham. “Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words.” Modern Language Association, 1998.

 

The fields are off here:  “Title” rather than “Series Title” should be in italics.  Also, there is no idenficiaiton of editor(s)  in the MLA 8 beta. 

The Endnote MLA 8 Beta contains only 12 bibliography templates which does not include a template for Edited Book – which is why you’re not getting the correct output. Perhaps the beta was immediately targeting some of the more problematic templates (hence the 12) presenting issues that were unable to be addressed previously. However, it would be helpful for the developers to mention which are the “hot” templates and include all bibliography templates in the beta so users can work through testing each one.

Thank you, the examples are very helpful. We have posted an updated output style on the endnote.com download site which includes and Edited Book template.

The output style includes the reference type temmplates for which there were relatively clear formatting examples in the MLA 8th edition handbook. The Edited Book template was inadvertantly left out. If there are other examples which fit with EndNote’s current reference types that should be included, please let us know.

But again, if you make such a request, please include examples and where you are finding documentation on how to cite them. There can be multiple correct ways to cite the same reference.